Video podcasts showcase real estate
TMCNet - MTV, move over. A Texas Realtor is making music video podcasts to showcase his company’s properties.
Of course, the virtual-tour videos, with eye-catching images such as a waterfall winding its way down a terraced, lighted front lawn, are not exactly MTV fare. There’s nary a glimpse of Britney Spears or Madonna, osculating or not.
But the videos do offer buyers a new way to eyeball Bruce Kink’s properties as they come on the market. The Woodlands, Texas, Realtor has produced 10 videos available for download on his Web site offering virtual tours of his listings with a music background. From now on, he will create video podcasts for his listings as they arrive, Kink said, and will soon add voiceovers.
The podcasts launched only last month, but have already generated major buzz, Kink said.
“Since introducing the podcasts (two weeks ago) we have seen an increase in overall Web traffic of almost 40 percent, with a popular podcast directory being the largest source of traffic,” Kink said. The Realtor has been besieged with questions from clients on how to get their homes posted in podcasts, as well as other agents who want to jump on the podcast bandwagon, he said.
Podcasts are audio files, usually MP3s, that can be downloaded to any portable MP3 player, such as an iPod, or personal computer. Now that iPods can play videos, Kink is capitalizing on this capability to showcase his properties.
Interest in podcasting is just beginning in the real estate and other industries. And though real estate agents including Zahara Mossman of Miami Beach, Fla., and Ira Serkes of Berkeley, Calif., are making podcasts to advertise their properties and themselves, Kink’s video tours are a new wrinkle.
Podcasting is different from other types of online media delivery because of the way it’s delivered. Listeners can subscribe to “podcatching” programs like iPodder that periodically check for new content on specified feeds and download it to the user’s computer.
In July, ByOwner.com, a for-sale-by-owner real estate site, started offering podcasts for the FSBO industry. In June, Martopia, a national marketing firm for the mortgage and financial services, launched its Executive Insight Podcasts of corporate positioning messages.